As far as I know (I'm obviously not a lawyer- I've taken half of a directly related law class so correct me if I'm wrong)- if the construction of a basketball hoop on state ROW has been illegal since the hoop was there, DelDOT can remove it. If it hasn't, it's a legal non-conforming use and DelDOT just made a big error, even if it is on state ROW. DelDOT would have to compensate the owner for the basketball hoop to remove it.
If that's true, then from a legal perspective I don't think there's no way to argue the removal as arbitrary and therefore illegal if the pole wasn't at some point a legal use. You can't even argue that it was arbitrary that they took that pole and not some others. I highly doubt that basketball hoop is a legal non-conforming use unless Delaware had and repealed some weirdly obscure statutes allowing for the construction of basketball hoops on state ROW.
That said, what the hell? Just because DelDOT could do that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do. Jerks. Certainly it's important for the state to have power over its own right of way, but why exercise that power here?
That lady was a bitch. Lying on camera to boot. Hope they take her to court for lying about leaving the pole and then taking it.
I'm wondering what the big deal is about the hoop in the first place.
Definitely did something illegal by telling them to go in their house. It's their property, they can stand wherever they want. The lady also lied to them. Hope, for their sake, they fight this, as well as go to retrieve the pole to show how much time/money they had to waste to keep the pole that could've just been left there.
To Quillz, yeah, it appeared to be in a cul-de-sac.
Exactly how is a hoop that has been on the cul-de-sac for possibly 60 years just NOW causing a problem?
It seems that a neighbor got mad because kids were playing in the street (rather than playing video games, I guess?) and felt that being in a car gave him the entitlement to keep others from using public property in ways that might delay him. But couldn't the kids still play in the road even if the hoop were set back on private property? If so, even if his victory stands, it's a rather hollow one.
And to think that while they spent time and money ripping up harmless basketball hoops, they could have been preventing real crimes.
Reminds me of an incident here last summer except it was road hockey....... And the same thing, a quiet residential street where the kids had been playing for years until the new neighbor moved in and thought he would put a stop to it.
Well the Mounties arrived and the neighbor thought he now had the back-up he needed except...... the kids were just told to watch for traffic and move the net for cars and the neighbor asked if he'd rather the kids be playing or involved in a gang or worse. A local paper picked up on the story and the neighbor chastised........You don't mess with Hockey in Canada!
Personally if he wasn't on a cane and if I was in his situation, if the male cop wasn't there, I would've have been in her face pointing and screaming.
Now how does sitting on top of a basketball hoop = disorderly conduct? What kind of law is that cop interpreting? If the cops are interpreting the law to be an ass and say they are right, then is it law?
This is what happens in society. One person doesn't like it, it becomes a problem for everyone. I do think they have no right to lie on camera. I would cite DelDOT for disorderly conduct (how ironic).
Every neighborhood street is technically under DelDOT's jurisdiction from what I understand, and the first couple of feet of everyone's front yard is state right of way. Therefore if a hoop was complained about, DelDOT can be called in to remove it if the owner does not, because of where it lies. They did a similar story on this in the late 1990s, garnering similar reactions...
All city streets are under DelDOT jurisdiction?
Presumably this is in an unincorporated area, and Delaware, like a few other states, has no county roads.
I'm curious, but did anybody ever hear an update on this?
Quote from: NE2 on March 31, 2011, 12:36:59 PM
Presumably this is in an unincorporated area, and Delaware, like a few other states, has no county roads.
Not the township? Here in Illinois (for example), county roads are only those specific highways the county maintains, a la state routes. Everything else is either municipal or township (incorporated or unincorporated, respectively).
Delaware doesn't have townships. Once you're outside the incorporated municipalities, the county is the local unit of government. But that's a moot point in the case of roads because in Delaware, like Virginia, the DOT maintains most public roads.
I can see it being removed for liability reasons, (non-crashworthy device within [supposedly] state right-of-way). But the way they went about it was all wrong, especially if the homeowner was going about things through the legal channels. There have been some issues around here with homeowners erecting portable basketball hoops along the curbline and being asked to move/remove them (usually handled by the municipal inspection or engineering department).
Quote from: DaBigE on March 04, 2012, 03:39:49 PM
I can see it being removed for liability reasons, (non-crashworthy device within [supposedly] state right-of-way). But the way they went about it was all wrong, especially if the homeowner was going about things through the legal channels. There have been some issues around here with homeowners erecting portable basketball hoops along the curbline and being asked to move/remove them (usually handled by the municipal inspection or engineering department).
I think this generated a whole lot of ill-will toward DelDOT (and maybe the state of Delaware) for
no especially good reason.
This looks like a subdivision street with low traffic volumes, and (presumably) the speed limit is posted at 25 MPH, all of which to me says that the basketball hoop does not pose a significant danger to passing motorists,
even if someone were to crash right into one.
Brings to mind the question - "Doesn't DelDOT have something better to do with their time and resources?"
Quote from: cpzilliacus on March 05, 2012, 04:47:09 PM
Brings to mind the question - "Doesn't DelDOT have something better to do with their time and resources?"
I was under the impression that they went and removed the hoops in this neighborhood because someone filed a complaint.... grouchy neighbor probably doesn't like kids playing in the street.
Obviously if they were just going around removing hoops as a thing to do, it would be ridiculous.
Quote from: Duke87 on March 05, 2012, 06:34:40 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on March 05, 2012, 04:47:09 PM
Brings to mind the question - "Doesn't DelDOT have something better to do with their time and resources?"
I was under the impression that they went and removed the hoops in this neighborhood because someone filed a complaint.... grouchy neighbor probably doesn't like kids playing in the street.
Obviously if they were just going around removing hoops as a thing to do, it would be ridiculous.
I assert that DelDOT should have (politely) told the grouch that they have higher priorities than basketball hoops and similar structures on low-volume secondary system roads (as they say in Virginia, not sure if this is correct DelDOT nomenclature).
At a minimum (and in my opinion), this is something that should have been vetted at the highest level (Secretary of Transportation) of the agency in advance of doing anything, given the obviously high potential for doing harm to DelDOT's image and relationship with taxpayers.
I'm going to venture a guess that they did not anticipate it turning into a big news story.
Quote from: Duke87 on March 06, 2012, 06:37:04 PM
I'm going to venture a guess that they did not anticipate it turning into a big news story.
slow news day. I am amazed at stories that get play on slow news days
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on March 03, 2012, 09:36:54 PM
I'm curious, but did anybody ever hear an update on this?
Found one: Long story short - he filed suit yesterday (3/7/12)
http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=41288
Also found a YouTube video indicating that all of the seized basketball hoops were picked up by their owners.